Technical data

Table Of Contents
Capturing Data 3
Agilent 3000 Series Oscilloscopes User’s Guide 67
Memory Depth and Sample Rate
The number of points of oscilloscope memory is fixed, and there is a
maximum sample rate associated with oscilloscope’s analog-to- digital
converter; however, the actual sample rate is determined by the time of
the acquisition (which is set according to the oscilloscope’s horizontal
time/div scale).
sample rate = number of samples / time of acquisition
For example, when storing 5 us of data in 4,000 points of memory, the
actual sample rate is 800 MSa/s.
Likewise, when storing 500 ms of data in 4,000 points of memory, the
actual sample rate is 8 kSa/s.
The actual sample rate, is displayed in the horizontal Main/Delayed menu
(see “To view the sample rate” on page 43).
The oscilloscope achieves the actual sample rate by throwing away
(decimating) unneeded samples.